The use of protective gloves by practitioners in medical, laboratory, dental, and toxic material work is standard practice. During surgery, for example, use of sterilized gloves helps protect the surgeon from contact with infectious agents carried by the patient, as well as lessening the chance of introducing infectious agents into the surgical opening. Unsterilized gloves are used in many examination procedures to protect the examiner from infectious or unsanitary agents carried by the patient. Laboratory technicians in a variety of fields, including medical diagnostics and testing, pharmacology, chemistry, and environmental, also use such gloves to protect themselves from contact with infectious, caustic, toxic, or otherwise harmful substances.
Protective gloves, including surgical, examination, and other types, and their methods of manufacture are well known. It is also well known that because of their close-fitting nature, some such gloves cannot easily be put on without the aid of a slip-increasing powder or other substance between the glove's interior surfaces and the wearer's hands. Typically, the slip-increasing substance is a powder and is applied to the interior surfaces of the gloves by the glove manufacturer. A number of slip-increasing powders are disclosed in the prior art. Examples may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,621,333 (talc, sodium metaphosphate), 3,637,411 (cornstarch), 3,728,739 (polyglycolic acid), 4,143,423 (sodium bicarbonate), 4,540,407 (polyol powder), and 4,668,224 (oxidized cellulose).
In many procedures in which protective gloves are worn, health and safety considerations strictly dictate that the wearer should wash his or her hands after removing the gloves, because of the possibility that harmful agents may have come in contact with the hands through undetected openings in the gloves or the gloves' open ends. Experience shows, however, that despite the rules and despite the health risks both to the glove user and to others with whom he or she has later contact, some users do not always wash after removing their gloves, for a variety of reasons including forgetfulness. Existing means for reminding them to wash, such as posted signs, do not completely solve the problem. A more effective means for reminding users of gloves to wash after removing them is needed.
It has therefore been an object of this invention to provide an effective means for reminding a user of protective gloves to wash his or her hands after removing the gloves.
An effective reminder ideally would be one that the wearer of gloves is certain to see each and every time he or she used gloves and that cannot easily be ignored. A reminder message or symbol could be printed on the gloves themselves. While such a reminder might stand a better chance than a posted sign of being seen by the wearer, it could still be ignored without any immediate consequences. What is needed is a reminder that, if ignored by the wearer, will have immediate and undesirable consequences to him or her.
Further objects of this invention have therefore been to provide a reminder that results in a wearer of gloves being virtually certain to see a reminder to wash his or her hands after removing the gloves, and to provide a reminder that immediately and adversely affects the wearer who ignores it.
An effective reminder should also be one that does not require the wearer or a third party to take extra steps to put into effect. A disadvantage of posted signs, for instance, is that someone must remember and take the time to make and post them and ensure that they stay posted. A better reminder would automatically occur every time gloves are used, without the user or anyone associated with the user having to do anything extra.
Another object of this invention has therefore been to provide a means for automatically reminding a wearer of protective gloves to wash his or her hands after removing the gloves, without the need for any steps other than wearing the gloves.